So I tried to pull a disc (#2 of 2 discs) out of my Teach Yourself Ukrainian Complete Course, and it wouldn’t come out. The post that held it in was so tight that it would not release the disc. So I wiggled and worked with it and thought it was about to come out when, “Ouch!” The disc broke, and sliced my thumb open.

So I called the manufacturer, McGraw-Hill. I told them that I broke the disc trying to remove it from the packaging, and they gave me the ISBN and told me that it would be about $6.00 to order just the one disc (and also that the item was out of stock, but should be available by May 18th). I explained politely that I considered this a manufacturing defect – and wasn’t looking to buy another disc. The manufacturer of the faulty product should take care of it! Well, I was told that I would have to contact the business that I purchased the package from. McGraw-Hill wasn’t going to help out.

So I called Amazon, the business from which I purchased the package. They don’t sell the CD itself. Since I ordered the package, they demanded that I send the whole package back for refund. But once they saw that I had purchased in January, they balked even at that. Finally, they agreed to a partial refund of $4.00. Not even enough to cover the cost of the disk (especially with likely S&H). They did say they would discuss the defective packaging with McGraw-Hill so that other customers would not have this same problem…

Well, I still want the disk, so I call McGraw-Hill back. Realizing that they weren’t going to replace the disk, I tell the salesman that I want to order it, giving him the ISBN. He reminds me that it is momentarily out of stock. I asked to go ahead and place the order anyway – and the salesman argues with me, saying that it may not be available till June. In the end, he refused to take my order! So now I have to call back later to try to order something that I shouldn’t have to purchase in the first place (my opinion, of course).

Not happy. When I review, I’ll try to keep my run-ins with Amazon and McGraw-Hill out of it. But the shoddy packaging that led to this issue will definitely come up. Unfortunately, this is not the only defect in materials!

2 Responses to Not a Happy Customer

*sigh* I had a similar problem with a Spanish disc manufacturer. The disc would load but not play on my computer. I never got to speak with a real person, but after multiple emails, I finally got an unsatisfactory response. Also, I’d bought mine at Borders and they were no help either. They lost my business.

I do hope your thumb heals quickly. Fingers keep getting smacked when they are injured.